


Axiom Nexus

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Maria's Adventures [7]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 20:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11676588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: In an attempt to rescue those trapped in their minds, Maria and the others find a place that could bring them out.But what does music have to do with what they need to be done?





	1. Chapter 1

It was early evening on the planet when a group of six visitors suddenly appeared on a gravel road in a bright blue flash.

One of the six figures -- a teenage boy with brown hair and blue eyes -- glanced up at the purple-red sky above their heads and frowned. "Looks like we must be near a city or something, if the sky is looking like that."

Another figure -- a young boy with bright blond hair covered his ears in order to block out the pure noise that was around them. "Why is it so loud?"

 _*Yeah, what is it with this place?*_ growled a feminine voice in annoyance.

A third figure -- a teenage girl with shoulder-length brown hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to glow slightly -- frowned a little. "It looks like the sound is coming from over there." She pointed down the gravel path they were standing on towards what looked like a brightly-lit fairgrounds. "We should probably check it out. What do you guys think?" She turned to look at the other five figures.

"Seems like the best option," noted a boy with indigo eyes as he nodded in agreement. "We might be able to find our answers there."

The others nodded in agreement, and the teenage girl who had spoken turned and started walking towards what looked like a main gate.

 _Wildfire,_ the bright-eyed teen thought, _what do you think?_

 _*What do I think?*_ the feminine voice from before responded. _*I don't know_ what _to think. We were told by Vector Prime to come here, remember? I don't know what it is that he's planning, so don't ask me questions*_

The bright-eyed teen -- Maria -- scowled at the response she had received from the Cybertronian trapped in her mind, and she instead sighed irritably and looked over at the teenage boy who had been looking at the sky earlier. "What do you think of all this, Matt?"

"I'm wondering who's going to be able to help us here in order to get our friends back to their proper selves," came the response. "Carnivals like this normally have some kind of fortune teller, right? Is some psychic going to pull them out of our heads?"

There came a snort from a teenage girl with light brown hair and dark blue eyes. "Doubt it. If that was true, all we would have to do is find Mewtwo."

Maria sent the girl a look. "His name is Chaos, Khrista, remember?"

Khrista sighed in response. "Yeah, I know. It's just...I kinda had a rough time when I went off-world before you left, okay? Kinda ran into a few similarities, but...." The Pokehuman shrugged.

Maria blinked in confusion at Khrista's comment, but then remembered that Joshua had said that Khrista didn't want to talk about wherever-it-was that she had been. Maria decided to mentally drop the question and force it out of her mind before it really started to bug her.

"It kinda sounds like some kind of music festival," commented a younger teenage girl with light brown hair and averagely-shaded blue eyes. A frown crossed her face. "I can't tell what's being played, though. It all sounds like a jumbled mess."

"I noticed that, too," commented the indigo-eyed boy, nodding in agreement.

"Maybe it's because none of the songs are your themes."

The group of six came to a stop at the open entrance into the fairgrounds, and they turned their heads to look at the figure who had spoken -- an older man with slightly graying hair, sitting in a folding chair and smoking an old-fashioned pipe that reminded Maria of Sherlock somehow.

"Theme?" repeated the as-of-yet unnamed teenage girl. "What do you mean?"

"You came here and you didn't know anything about Axiom Earth's special ability?" The man made a sound that made him seem like he was disappointed.

"We just arrived here," responded the indigo-eyed boy. "And only because we needed to; we don't know anything about the planet."

"Joshua's right," Maria agreed. "Is there anything that you might be able to tell us about what's going on here?"

The man eyed them for a moment, then smirked around his pipe. "Maybe we should get introductions out of the way first, hmm? They call me Gale. I check everybody who comes through."

Maria gave a slight nod. "All right. These are my siblings Matthew, or Matt, Liz, and Collin, my two friends Khrista and Joshua, and I'm Maria."

Gale's dark eyes widened slightly. "Maria? Well, isn't this a surprise. I didn't think some rookie World Jumper would come out here so early."

"Rookie?" Maria looked at the man in surprise. She frowned for a moment, then shook her head. "Nevermind, I'll probably figure it out later."

"So, what was that about themes?" the indigo-eyed boy -- Joshua -- asked.

Gale's smirk widened into a grin around his pipe. "A 'theme,' Joshua, is a song that best represents you at a certain moment. People usually have multiple, but there's usually one or two songs that they're really close to. Some songs even overlap with people, but that's as rare as a World Jumper getting involved in things on her own world."

Maria and her siblings and friends exchanged glances when they heard this, sharing knowing looks that clearly said they were wondering otherwise.

"We'll keep that in mind," Maria promised, nodding. "Thanks, Gale."

"No problem. By the way, I'd suggest going to Max if you want to get your themes sorted out. She may not get all that many, but she's much easier to deal with than some of these other bozos that are looking for World Jumpers to mooch off of."

Maria blinked a couple times. "Uh...sure."

"How will we know what she looks like?" the blond-haired boy -- Collin -- piped up.

"Oh, you'll know." Gale waved them on, and Maria took this as a sign to move on into the fairgrounds.

The fairgrounds looked a lot like what are usually expected: booths with games and souvenirs were scattered throughout the area, and music was being blasted all over the place. However, it was all still indecipherable to the six's ears.

"I wonder where we're going to find that 'Max' Gale mentioned," Maria commented, looking around. "I don't see anything that looks like a music stage, and he did say that there were others in the area...."

"It shouldn't take us too long to find Max, I don't think," Matt commented. "I mean, this place doesn't necessarily look that big."

Maria gave a thoughtful hum in response, frowning slightly.

The group of six made it a point to stick together as they walked through the fairground, eyeing the booths, but not going anywhere near them. At the same time, Maria couldn't help but notice that there were a lot of different people here -- possibly from other worlds. The Reploid couldn't help but wonder if she thought she saw a couple versions of Sonic zipping from booth to booth with what looked like a Flash....

"It looks like there's a big crowd around that stage over there," Liz spoke up, pointing to a group of people ahead of them. "Maybe Max is over there?"

Maria blinked, then looked over in the direction that her sister was pointing. Sure enough, there was a large crowd of people starting to gather around an empty stage that had a drum set and a few amps scattered about -- pretty modest compared to other stages that Maria had seen for other concerts.

Curious, the Reploid started after the crowd, the others following after her. "Let's check it out."

The group quickly reached the crowded area and moved in as best they could while also sticking together.

"Let's see if those morons will be able to get anyone tonight!" someone called out with a laugh, causing the heads of the group to turn. "Delta Max shouldn't have gotten into this gig."

"The kid's smart," a second voice argued. "She's the one who helped to find the man who wrote the theme for the leader of the Autobots, remember? Optimus Prime from Axiom Cybertron approves of what she's doing -- Megatron, too!"

"Those robots don't know a thing about Earth music," the first scoffed.

Wildfire growled at the back of Maria's mind. _*It seems that every universe has to have it own brand of jerks*_

 _We have to ignore them for now,_ Maria replied. She glanced at the others and saw varying looks of annoyance on their faces, as well.

"Whoever that guy is, he hasn't met Jazz," Khrista noted. "That's what SC just said." A confused look crossed her face. "Who _is_ Jazz?"

Maria and Matthew exchanged looks, remembering the white mech they had met some time ago.

"We'll explain later," Matthew stated, giving Khrista a knowing smirk. He turned his attention to the stage. "I kind of want to find out more about this Delta Max, though."

"Do you think that's the name of the band?" Liz asked. "Gale just said that we should look for Max."

"She's called Delta Max when she's on-stage," commented a figure who was in front of them. He turned around, allowing Maria to take note of the dark blue hair and bright blue eyes that almost seemed to glow. "And she's one of the few musicians on Axiom Earth who is close to the Autobots _and_ the Decepticons."

"Really?" Khrista's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Is she an ally to both sides?" Matthew asked.

"They're not at war here," the man stated, as though knowing what it was that Matthew was asking. "No one really knows where and when the factions were started, though. If anything, the factions are political more than they are sides of a warring conflict, like it is on other worlds."

"You're aware of other worlds?" Maria asked, surprised.

"Axiom Nexus has visitors from other places and times nearly constantly. Considering that Axiom Cybertron is much more vigorous with who is allowed on and off the planet, Axiom Earth is the one that gains much more by way of passing travelers."

"Really?" Joshua looked intrigued. "And why is that?"

"Earth seems to have always been a melting pot. I suppose that they never really thought to change it."

"Good evening, Axiom Nexus!"

Maria turned her head upon hearing the voice suddenly resound out over the crowd. She caught sight of a group of humans standing on the stage, only one of them standing close enough to a microphone to be the one who had called out.

"I'm Delta Max," continued the figure -- a teenage girl with light blue hair and bright purple eyes, clothed in a black T-shirt, jeans, and black shoes with three neon-pink stripes. "And these are the other members of my band. Kyla--"

The teenage girl with red-orange hair behind the keyboard glanced up and nodded before looking back at the keys.

"--Mike--"

The young man on the drumset raised a stick and grinned.

"--Justin--"

The other young man raised a fist, then went back to messing with the tuning on his bass guitar.

"--and Lea."

The spiky redhead with the electric guitar gave the crowd a mock salute.

"And tonight we're--"

Delta suddenly cut herself off and held a hand to her head, closing one purple eye as a shudder rippled down her body. From where Maria was standing, it looked like her open eye was flashing.

"She got one _tonight?"_ someone asked in surprise.

"It's probably just a part of the act."

"I dunno. Every time it's happened --"

"What's happening?" Collin asked, sounding somewhat annoyed. "It looks like she's having a vision like Maria does."

The dark-blue-haired young man looked down at the blond boy with an expression of curiosity. "Maria?"

"That would be me," Maria stated, raising a hand. "And yes, I do have visions sometimes. Is that what is happening to Max now?"

The man frowned slightly, then shook his head. "Not that I am aware of. It's been said that Max has connections to others, but that has never been truly proven, and she hasn't told anyone but a select few of where she gains her knowledge from."

"Are you sure?" Delta suddenly asked, a look of shock coming across her face. "There are _six_ Doubles in the crowd tonight?"

That got the crowd to stop muttering.

Maria frowned. "Doubles?"

"Overlapping themes," the man explained, surprised. "One Double is rare, considering how many styles of music and songs that exist, but to have six in the crowd in one night...."

"...All right." A grin spread across Delta's face, and she lowered her hand and looked at the crowd. "I was _going_ to say that tonight that we were going to play already claimed themes, but as you probably _heard,_ we've got some people in the crowd who need to find theirs." Delta turned to look at the band group behind her and held up a fist. The others gave various nods.

Facing the crowd again, Delta declared, "Let's start this off with a bang!"

As if that was their cue, the drumset, keyboard, bass and electric guitars broke into a frenzy of noise that caused most of the crowd to flinch back a step.

"What are they doing?" Maria demanded. "That isn't music!"

"Yes, it is!"

Everyone in the group turned to look at Khrista, whose eyes were locked on the stage.

"I can barely hear it, though...I'm going in closer." Khrista started to force her way through the crowd before breaking out into the circle of untouched grass in front of the stage.

It was at that exact same moment that the song became clear to their ears.

_"Now the dark begins to rise.  
_ _Save your breath -- it's far from over!  
_ _Leave the lost and dead behind  
_ _Now's your chance to run for cover._

_"I don't want to change the world --  
_ _I just want to leave it colder  
_ _Light the fuse and burn it up  
_ _Take the path that leads to nowhere._

_"All is lost again....but I'm not givin' in!_

_"I will not bow!  
_ _I will not break!  
_ _I will shut the world away.  
_ _I will not fall!  
_ _I will not fade!  
_ _I will take your breath away...._

_"Fall!"_

Max pulled away from the microphone for a moment and jammed out a bit to the beat that was being laid down by her drummer. Maria started to bounce a bit herself to the beat, but then paused when she noticed what Khrista was doing.

The PokeHuman was swaying at a strangely gentle pace -- considering the song was a little faster than a person's average walking pace -- and her shirt had changed from the dull red it had been to a bright gold. It almost seemed like the air around her was...shimmering.

Maria frowned and was about to ask Joshua what he thought was going on when Max started singing again.

_"Watch the end through dying eyes -- now the dark is taking over.  
_ _Show me where forever dies!  
_ _Take the fall and run to heaven._

_"All is lost again...but I'm not givin' in!_

_"I will not bow!  
_ _I will not break!  
_ _I will shut the world away.  
_ _I will not fall  
_ _I will not fade.  
_ _I will tear your breath away._

_"And I'll survive -- paranoid.  
_ _I have lost the will to change.  
_ _And I'm not proud, cold-blooded hate.  
_ _I will shut the world away._

_"Open your eyes!"_

The electric guitarist promptly took over at this point, playing a strangely haunting guitar solo that sent shivers down Maria's spine.

"What connects Khrista with _that_?" Liz asked, surprised at the minor keys. "It sounds like a bad guy's theme or something."

Maria got a vision of a giant silver robot with blood-red optics sneering at her, and she shook the vision away. "Something probably happened."

"Probably?" Matthew repeated dryly. "Seems more like a definite to me."

There came a loud gasp from someone near them. "What in Chaos is that thing?!"

Maria's head shot over to look in the direction of the voice, wondering for a second if she had seen Sonic in the crowd. She shook that thought off, however, when she heard other gasps as people looked at the open expanse of grass in front of the stage. The Reploid turned her head in order to see what was going on...and her eyes widened in shock.

There was a large, glowing figure standing in between the stage and Khrista, clearly towering over everyone who was present. Max, seemingly oblivious to what was going on in front of her, moved up to the microphone and started singing again...just as the light scattered in a bright flash, revealing the figure underneath.

_"I will not bow!  
_ _I will not break!  
_ _I will shut the world away.  
_ _I will not fall!  
_ _I will not fade!  
_ _I will tear your breath away._

_"And I'll survive -- paranoid.  
_ _I have lost the will to change.  
_ _And I'm not proud, cold-blooded hate!  
_ _I will shut the world away._

_"Fall!"_

As the last note died in the air, Khrista finally seemed to come to her senses as she looked down at her gold shirt in confusion. There was a momentary flash as the gold faded back to a dull red, and Khrista looked at what was in front of her...and tilted her head back to look at the head of the mostly-gray femme that happened to be standing there, a slight smirk on her face.

Max let out a yelp of surprise as _she_ came to her senses. "W-wait a sec -- you were hiding _in_ her? I didn't think that was possible!"

The gray femme turned her helm and looked down at the stage. "Anything is possible when Vector Prime is involved."

"V-Vector Prime...."

"There are five others like me here, if your exclamation earlier means anything. I am aware of four. If you managed to release me, you will release the others."

With that, the femme turned and moved to the edge of the circle and sat down with a shake of the earth.

Cautiously, Khrista made her way over to the giant Cybertronian and stopped by one of her feet. "Shape-Change? I didn't think you'd get _this_ big."

"You have yet to meet the leader of our faction," the gray femme replied with a slight smile. "He is much taller than I."

"Whoa...."

SC held out a servo, and Khrista clambered on, then climbed up to the femme's shoulder. Maria watched the two of them, wondering if she was going to be able to see Wildfire face-to-face next.

"Let's move on to the next song!" Delta called out, raising an open hand. As soon as she dropped it, the group started up with the noise once again, but this time it was softer -- the drum beat seemed to be less, and the keyboard's chaos was louder than anything else.

Maria strained her ears. "I'm not recognizing this one...."

"Neither am I," Matthew agreed.

"But I know it."

Matthew, Collin, Liz, and Maria turned their heads and looked at Joshua, who was already starting to move forward. At the same time, Justin (the lead guitarist) started singing back and forth with Max. 

 **J:** _"I'm at war with the world cause they  
_ _Are trying to pull me into he dark.  
_ _A struggle to find my faith  
_ _As I'm slipping from your arms."_  

 **M:** _"It's getting harder to stay awake  
_ _As my strength is fading fast!  
_ _You breathe into me at last..."_

 **J:** _"I'm awake! I'm alive!  
_ _Now I know what I believe inside.  
_ _Now, it's my time.  
_ _I'll do what I want, cause this is my life.  
_ _Here--"_

 **M:** _"Right here."_

 **J:** _"Right now--"_

 **M:** _"Right now.  
_ _I know now to never back down."_  

**J:** _"I know what I believe inside._

**M &J: ** _"I'm awake and I'm alive!"_

Maria blinked a couple times as she watched Joshua, eyes closed, caused his blue-themed clothes to vanish, revealing his cobalt armor. The shocked gasps that came from the crowd made Maria grin like an idiot.

**J:** _"I'm at war with the world cause I  
_ _Ain't never gonna sell my soul_ _.  
_ _I already made up my mind --_ _No matter what, I can't be bought or sold."_

**M:** _"When my faith is getting weak,  
_ _And I feel like giving in,  
_ _You breathe into me again...."_

**J:** _"I'm awake! I'm alive!  
_ _Now I know what I believe inside.  
_ _Now it's my time.  
_ _I'll do what I want, cause this is my life!  
_ _Here--"_  

**M:** _"Right here!"_

**J:** _"Right now!"_

**M:** _"Right now!  
_ _I'll stand my ground and never back down."_

**J:** _"I know what I believe inside."_

**M &J: ** _"I'm awake and I'm alive!"_

As the duo started singing what Maria supposed was the bridge, the Reploid thought she saw sparks start to fly from Joshua's arms.

 **M &J:** _"In the dark, I can feel you in my sleep.  
_ _In your arms I feel you breath into me.  
_ _Forever hold this heart that I will give to you  
_ _Forever I will live for you!  
_ _Forever I will live for you!"_  

It was at this point that the drums suddenly came on in a crescendo, and the sparks flying off Joshua did the exact same thing, increasing in number and size until it almost seemed like they were jumping off Joshua and forming something there in front of him.

**M &J: ** _"I'm awake! I'm alive!  
_ _Now I know what I believe inside.  
_ _Now, it's my time!  
_ _I'll do what I want, cause this is my life.  
_ _Here (right here), right now (right now)!  
_ _I'll stand my ground and never back down.  
_ _I know what I believe inside.  
_ _I'm awake and I'm alive!"_

Right when the song ended in that crescendo of noise, the sparks suddenly condensed and scattered in bright orbs of light, revealing a large figure who happened to be standing there, bright blue paint reflecting the light in such a way that it almost seemed to be made of electricity.

"Jolt!" Maria and Matthew exclaimed together. The two of them looked at each other and grinned.

Jolt looked down at his servos, clenching and unclenching them as Joshua looked up at the mech.

"It's good to be in control of myself again," Jolt stated. "Now I might be of more help." He gave Joshua a grin, and the teenage Reploid gave a thumbs-up in return.

"Whoo!" Max rubbed her throat as the two stepped off the grass circle. "What a rush! I'm going to need to give my voice a break." She grinned, purple eyes flashing. "Which actually works for this next song! Kyla, take it away!"

And take it away Kyla did. As Max stepped back away from the microphone and sat down next to the drumset, grabbing a bottle of water, what sounded like it could be a jazz group suddenly came blasting out of the speakers.

"Cool!" Collin suddenly became a blur as he dashed out onto the open grass. He circled the area in smaller and smaller circles before he ended up smack-dab in the middle, dancing to the jazz tune.

Maria couldn't help but giggle at her younger brother's antics as he dashed around the circle of grass, arms out almost as though he was a plane of some kind. Occasionally, he'd stop moving for a moment and do a little dance, getting some people in the crowd to laugh at his antics.

A good minute in, though, and what looked like a shadow of some kind was seen running around with Collin on the grass. Occasionally, small sparks were seen shooting off the shadowy figure, causing the figure to flicker and become a little bit more solid. By a minute and a half, it was clear that the figure behind Collin was about twice as tall than he was...with what looked like a set of jet wings. It was soon after that the figure's color started to solidify -- mainly yellow, with bright blue circuit lines running all over his form in strangely intricate ways.

Maria blinked a couple times before frowning. A moment later, however, a brightened expression came across her face, and she elbowed her brother. "Looks like he's a flier of some kind."

Matthew looked down at his sister before giving a slight nod in agreement. "Yeah. Seer's wondering how that's possible, considering where he came from...but I'm not exactly sure what he means by that."

"Hmm...Wildfire?"

_*That's his and Jolt's business. I gotta say, though, I'm not expecting the wings, either*_

Maria relayed the statement to her brother, who nodded thoughtfully.

"We'll have to ask them later, then," Matthew commented.

The song continued to play, and the figure beside Collin started to become more solid, becoming less of a ghost and more of an actual solid figure. The two of them actually started to release sparks on and off in time with the music, bringing a surprised noise out of Jolt and causing the others to look up at the blue Cybertronian in confusion.

"That's...so he _does_ have it...." Jolt murmured. He noticed the stares and gave everyone a look that said he would explain things later.

It was at this point that the jazz tune ended with a trumpet cadence, and Collin and the yellow, winged robot stood side by side, grinning and with their hands in the air while the audience applauded. Then they turned to look at each other, Collin's eyes practically lighting up with amazement.

Maria frowned at the small wheels that were embedded into the yellow Cybertronian's legs. "How big is his jet form if he has wheels like that?"

Wildfire let out a gasp. _*Coil's a triplechanger!*_

Maria blinked in confusion. "Triplechanger? What's that?"

_*A Cybertronian with both a ground and an aerial form. We're lucky to have him*_

"Ground _and_ aerial?"

Collin and Coil ran back to the others, and Coil instantly climbed up into Jolt's lap with a delighted expression.

"You've gotten pretty big, Coil," Jolt commented, looking down at the smaller Cybertronian.

"Yeah!" Coil grinned, his wings twitching delightedly. "Cool, right?"

"I wonder what you can transform into!" Collin called up, climbing up onto Jolt to join his friend.

"I wanna see, too," Coil responded brightly. "I wasn't able to transform before. I was too little."

"And you are still too small to handle the transformation we are capable of," Shape-Change chided, gaining a disappointed expression from the little yellow Cybertronian.

Max let out a laugh from the stage, causing the group to look back in her direction. "You're a pretty cute kid. I bet you're glad to be able to interact with things in the real world now, right?"

"Yup!" Coil gave Max a thumbs-up and a grin.

"Well, this next song should bring another one of them." Max nodded back to her band. "Let's rock!"

**Themes:**

**"I Will Not Bow" -- Breaking Benjamin (Khrista/Shape-Change)**

**"Awake and Alive" (Remix version) -- Skillet (Joshua/Jolt)**

**"Birdland" -- Maynard Fergusen (Collin/Coil)**


	2. Chapter 2

The keyboard started up first, playing a few seemingly nonsensical chords before the drums and guitar joined in. When Max started singing, someone dashed out onto the grass circle.

It took Maria a moment to realize that it was _Matthew_ who had run out there...and then the lyrics became clear.

_"When you're alone, you ask yourself  
_ _What are you searching for.  
_ _Deep in the night, a dream is born --  
_ _One that you can't ignore._

_"If you think you can find the passion,  
_ _And you're ready to take a chance,  
_ _If you really believe you can make it,  
_ _Then the power is in your own hands!_

At the same time that the sound started to hit a crescendo of action, Matthew spread his arms wide, blue sparks rising from his fingers. As they rose, they seemed to create a shape behind him, but that soon dissipated.

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _You're giving it all.  
_ _Standing alone -- willing to fall.  
_ _If you can do it, get up and prove it,  
_ _Get up and show them who you are!_

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _It's all on the line!  
_ _This is the place -- this is the time!  
_ _Waited forever, it's now or its never,  
_ _Nothing can stop you now."_  

The guitar played the same chords that the keyboard had played at the beginning of the song, seeming to slow down the tempo somewhat before Max started singing again. At the same time, more sparks started to rise from Matthew's arms, making the form behind Matthew a little more solid. Maria thought that, for a moment, that she saw a golden shimmer in the form, but that disappeared a moment later.

_"Once in your life, you make a choice,  
_ _Ready to risk it all.  
_ _Deep in your soul, you hear a voice,  
_ _Answering to the call._

_"Though you know it won't be easy,  
_ _It's a promise you make for love.  
_ _For the people that keep believing,  
_ _And the one that you're thinking of!_

Once again, there was a quick crescendo, and that was accompanied by a blast of Aura sparks from Matthew, which made the figure behind him even more visible. Now, Maria could definitely see that there was something golden on the figure. Or rather, the figure was _holding_ something that looked golden.

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _You're giving it all.  
_ _Standing alone -- willing to fall.  
_ _If you can do it, get up and prove it,  
_ _Get up and show them who you are!_

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _It's all on the line!  
_ _This is the place -- this is the time!  
_ _Waited forever, it's now or its never,  
_ _Nothing can stop you now._

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _You're giving it all.  
_ _Standing alone -- willing to fall.  
_ _If you can do it, get up and prove it,  
_ _Nothing can stop you now."_

The same chords came again, although instead of another verse like Maria had been expecting, Max launched herself into another round of the refrain.

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _You're giving it all.  
_ _Standing alone -- willing to fall.  
_ _If you can do it, get up and prove it,  
_ _Get up and show them who you are!_

_"It's the moment of truth!  
_ _It's all on the line.  
_ _This is the place -- this is the time!  
_ _Waited forever, it's now or its never,_

_Nothing can stop you now!"_

The final chord of the song caused so much Aura to appear that it caused a bright flash that made the crowd look away -- Maria included. The flash faded rather quickly, however, and Maria was soon able to look back at her brother.

Maria's eyes widened when she saw the figure who had appeared behind her brother. "Whoa...he's as big as I remember him being."

The large, blue Cybertronian who was now standing behind Matthew scanned the area before looking down at the human in front of him.

Matthew looked back up at the Cybertronian, smiling. "It's good to see you out here, Seer."

"Indeed," the Cybertronian responded. "And it should not be too much longer before the last of us are joined here." Sparkseer moved towards the edge of the crowd, Mathew following after him at a slight jog.

"How could you have a guy so huge in you, Matt?" Collin asked in surprise.

Matthew chuckled and shrugged helplessly as he came to stand next to Maria. Sparkseer sat down next to Jolt, appearing amused.

"Vector Prime can change space and time as he wishes," Sparkseer said. "Therefore, he is capable of placing a Cybertronian as big as I into the mind of a human."

"Yeah," Max agreed from the stage. "I've heard that he's supposed to be a pretty powerful Cybertronian."

"Don't get distracted now!" Justin warned. "We have two more Doubles to take care of, remember?"

"Right!" Max looked back at the bass guitarist before looking back at the audience. "Hope you guys like this next one!" She raised a hand, clenching her fist for a moment before opening it wide as she swung it down to her side.

Instantly, the drums played a short solo before the keyboard joined into a set of chords before the guitars jumped in, causing a crescendo of action in the song.

It took Maria a moment to realize that she could actually hear a melody with this song, rather than the garbled noises that previous songs had brought forward. "No way...."

_*You'd better believe it, kid -- I think we just found our tune!*_

Maria started to walk forward as Max started singing.

_"Silent darkness creeps into your soul...  
_ _And removes the light of self-control...  
_ _The cave that holds you captive has no doors...  
_ _Burnin' with determination  
_ _To even up the score!_

_"Hearts on fire!  
_ _Strong desire  
_ _Rages deep within!_

_"Hearts on fire!  
_ _Fever's rising high!_

_"The moment of truth draws near."_

The world was starting to become a blur for Maria; she couldn't really see the crowd around them anymore, but the music was still pounding in her ears.

_"Time will not allow you to stand still, no.  
_ _Silence breaks the heart and bends the will._

_"And things that give deep passions are your sword.  
_ _Rules and regulations have no meaning anymore._

_"Hearts on fire!  
_ _Strong desire  
_ _Rages deep within!_

_"Hearts on fire!  
_ _Fever's rising high!_

_"The moment of truth is here."_

Maria felt something in her core start to warm up as the guitar took over for a solo. It felt like she was giving off a large amount of energy in time with the music, and there was no way that she was going to be able to stop it. It almost felt...right, having it leave. The Reploid wasn't exactly sure why at this point, considering that she was practically enthralled by the music.

_"Hearts on fire!  
_ _Strong desire  
_ _Rages deep within!_

_"Fever's rising  
_ _Energizin'  
_ _Right up till the end!_

_Hearts on fire!  
_ _Strong desire  
_ _Rages deep within!_

_"Fever's rising  
_ _Energizin'  
_ _Right up till the end!"_

As the last chord struck, Maria let out a gasp as the sound of the audience suddenly came roaring back to her ears. She nearly reeled about for a moment, but she managed to catch her balance and look around.

"So that's what it feels like," came a voice from behind and above Maria. The Reploid slowly turned as the voice continued, "Not sure if I ever want to have that kind of sensation again, though."

"Yeah, it felt...kinda weird." Maria looked up at the red and orange Cybertronian femme who was standing behind her. "How you feeling?"

"Same as always," the Cybertronian replied coolly, examining her servos for a moment before looking down at the smaller figure. "Would really like to crush some Cons back home, though." Her servos tightened into fists.

"Wildfire, I believe we would all appreciate it if you would reel in your temper for a while," Sparkseer said, sounding amused.

Wildfire snorted in reply, but she let her servos relax. She looked down at Maria for a moment before starting for the edge of the circle where Maria had been standing a moment ago. Maria jogged after her, and when Wildfire sat down on the grass, the Reploid activated her hoverboard and flew up so that she could sit on the Cybertronian's shoulder.

"Think we should stick around to see who the sixth Double is?" Maria asked.

"We may as well," Shape-Change replied. "Perhaps someone else from the crowd will have the same theme as your sister."

"It would be pretty cool if I could get one," Liz spoke up from the ground. "Then I won't feel left out."

"Fair enough," Sparkseer agreed, nodding.

"All right, you guys! Here's the last one of the night!" Max raised her hand again, grinning hugely as she pointed up to the sky. As she brought her hand back down again, the guitar started into the song, playing a number of chords before the rest of the instruments joined in. Max started singing moments later.

_"Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered,  
_ _And there's nowhere to turn,  
_ _You wonder how you keep going._

_"Think of all the things that really mattered,  
_ _And the chances you've earned.  
_ _The fire in your heart is growing!_

_"You can fly  
_ _If you try  
_ _Leaving the past behind.  
_ _Heaven only knows what you might find!"_  

"Hey, I can actually understand what she's saying this time," Maria commented. She looked over at Wildfire, frowning when she noticed that the Cybertronian had a wide-eyed expression of shock. "Hey, what's up?"

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to believe you can survive.  
_ _You hold the future in your hand!_

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to keep all your dreams alive.  
_ _It's time to take a stand!_

_"And you can win, if you dare!"_

"I recognize this," Wildfire responded over the refrain. "Not the words, but...this is impossible!"

"What is?"

"Guys, Liz just ran out there!" Collin called up suddenly.

Maria's eyes widened, and she looked out over the circular patch of grass. Sure enough, her sister was standing out there, with her curved sword out. It looked like she was practicing her sword work, but there was an added level of grace to her movements.

A moment later, the Reploid noticed what almost appeared to be a hologram of some kind of figure behind Liz.

_"Everybody's tryin' to break your spirit  
_ _Keepin' you down.  
_ _Seems like it's been forever._

_"But there's another voice if you'll just hear it  
_ _Saying it's the last round.  
_ _Looks like it's now or never!_

_"Out of the darkness  
_ _You stumble into the light.  
_ _Fighting for the things you know are right!"_

"This song...it was a natural event that I witnessed back on Cybertron," Wildfire said carefully. "A meteor shower."

"A meteor shower?" Jolt repeated, intrigued. "When was that?"

"When I escaped Kaon and went to Iacon," the red and orange femme replied.

"Escaped?" Maria became interested. "That sounds like a story I'd want to hear about sometime."

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to believe you can survive.  
_ _The power is there at your command!_

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to keep all your dreams alive.  
_ _It's time to take a stand!_

_"And you can win, if you dare!  
_ _Dare!"_

It was at this point that Max pulled away from the mike while the keyboard started to play a fast solo that kept up with the 80's feel of the music. Maria couldn't help but bounce a little bit to the beat a little on Wildfire's shoulder, watching as the hologram behind Liz started to become a little more solid. She could clearly see what looked like red and white paint now on the hologram, and it was becoming more and more clear with each moment.

"How do you think they managed to make a song out of something you saw?" Maria asked, cocking her head curiously at Wildfire.

There came a chuckle from a figure below Maria's perch, and she looked down in order to see the person who had laughed. It took Maria a moment to recognize the blue-haired man who had spoken to her at the start of the concert.

"The Multiverse has its way of getting music and other things around to other places," the man continued. "It seems that your world only had the...instrumental version, I believe it is called."

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to believe you can survive.  
_ _You hold the future in your hand!_

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to keep all your dreams alive.  
_ _The power is there at your command!_

_"Dare!  
_ _Dare to keep all your love alive.  
_ _Dare to be all that you can be!_

_"Dare!  
_ _There is a place where dreams survive.  
_ _It's calling you on to victory!_

_"Dare!"_

The song ended rather abruptly at this point. Max herself almost seemed to freeze, one fist raised into the air as though she had been leading a chant. At the same time, in an explosion of sparks, the red and white hologram finally became fully solid.

Wildfire let out a gasp and shifted her position, almost like she was about to get to her feet. "No way!"

"By the AllSpark," Jolt said, looking equally alarmed.

"What is it?" Maria asked, looking between the two of them in confusion before looking back at the Cybertronian.

The Cybertronian was clearly a femme, wearing a red and white color scheme and an Autobot symbol on one shoulder. She looked around in bewilderment for a moment before looking at Maria and the others. A slight, relieved smile appeared on her face.

"Hello again," the femme greeted softly. "It's been a long time."

"Pit yeah," Wildfire grumbled in response.

"Language," Shape-Change warned, frowning at the red and orange femme. The comment was ignored, however, as Wildfire rose to her feet.

"Where have you been?!" Wildfire demanded. "I was told that you'd been offlined by Megatron himself!"

"And I saw it happen!" Jolt agreed. "You disintegrated as soon as he hit you!"

"Wait, what?" Maria's head shot around in surprise when she heard that. "If that's true, then how is she alive?"

"Just as you were stepped in for, so was I," the red and white femme responded simply. "Vector Prime caused me to disappear mere nanokliks before Megatron landed his fatal blow."

"Well, at least we have that to thank him for," Wildfire muttered under her breath.

"Uh, I'm kinda lost here," Maria spoke up, rubbing the back of her head rather sheepishly.

"Don't tell me you don't remember First Aid," Matthew responded from Sparkseer, sounding amused.

"Fir--" Maria did a double take. "First Aid? Wait a sec...." A frown crossed Maria's face as she thought back to her time on Cybertron. "I barely remember her, but...I think that's because of who she was with a lot of the time...." She looked at First Aid. "Didn't you work with Ratchet or something?"

"That's right." First Aid gave a slight smile and a nod in response. The smile faded a moment later, however, and became an expression of concern. "You haven't heard anything from him, have you?"

"We haven't," Wildfire responded with a shake of her helm. "We probably will soon, though, when we head back."

Maria nodded in agreement, but then another thought occurred to her. "Oh, yeah! Mom and Dad are going to have to know about you guys! We'd better head back so that we can tell them where you guys have been for the past twelve years!"

"Agreed," Joshua spoke up.

"Why do you want to tell them?" Khrista asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We knew them twelve years ago, when they traveled to Cybertron during the war," Shape-Change explained.

"Wait a sec here!" Max called out from the stage. "Are you saying that your parents were first-generation World Jumpers?"

Maria looked over at the singer. "Uh... I think so? They don't really talk about the things that they did when they were younger. Mom did say that she had been called that, though. Why do you ask?"

"First-generation Jumpers were supposed to have had a really hard time with traveling around the multiverse," Max commented. "I heard that they were dragged from their home universes rather than allowed to travel between them of their own free will."

"Well, that fits with what I remember," Matthew commented. "We got sucked through the TV before we went to Cybertron. Mom and Dad didn't travel anywhere after that, though."

"I would doubt that the universe would deign to call on them if they had children to look after," commented the blue-haired man from below. "When the children themselves were old enough, however, then things could change."

"You seen to know a lot about this kind of thing," Wildfire commented, glancing down at the man below her.

"Well, I was a World Jumper once myself."

"Really?" Maria looked at the man in surprise while a number of gasps rose up from the crowd. "Do you think you ever ran into my parents, then? Katie and Morgen Carlsdale?"

The man shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. World Jumpers tend to not cross paths unless they're from the same world. I don't recognize either of those names, so I'm guessing that your world is not mine."

"You've got that right," Khrista responded. "Speaking of which, we really should be getting home, Maria. Your parents are going to want to know about our friends, don't you think?"

"Yeah, we should," Maria agreed. She looked over at Delta Max and her band. "Thanks for helping us out with our themes. I doubt we'd have been able to get our friends out into the physical world without that."

The singer looked embarrassed. "It was nothing, really. I'm just doing my job, that's all."

"Well, keep doing it, then!" Maria clapped her hands together. "Okay, this portal's going to take a lot of energy...you guys ready?"

"What do you think?" Matthew responded, amused.

Maria snorted in amusement before shutting her eyes tightly, concentrating on her energy and gathering as much as possible before unleashing it. When the energy buildup had reached the equivalent of half a White Flare attack, the Reploid promptly released it with a forward motion, opening her eyes as she did so.

A large explosion of blue energy suddenly appeared in front of the group, getting gasps from the audience.

"Wow," Max said, impressed. "So that's what second-generation Jumpers can do. That's pretty cool."

Maria grinned. "Yeah, it is. Thanks again for the help, but we gotta go."

"Go right on ahead. I'm not stopping you."

"You got that right," Wildfire responded, amused. She started walking forward, the other Cybertronians following after her with their human counterparts either riding on their shoulders, in their servos, or jogging alongside them.

**Themes:**

**"The Moment of Truth" -- Survivor (Matthew/Sparkseer)**

**"Hearts on Fire" -- John Cafferty** **(Maria/Wildfire)**

**"Dare" -- Stan Bush (Liz/First Aid)**


	3. Chapter 3

Maria jumped off Wildfire's shoulder as she and the others emerged from the portal and entered what appeared to be a forest of some kind.

"Where do you guys think we are?" Matthew asked from where he sat on Sparkseer's shoulder. It didn't look like he was planning on moving anytime soon.

"We're about half a mile out of town," Joshua responded. "There's a road near here."

"A road?" Shape-Change gained an intrigued expression. "We can use that to our advantage."

"We can?" Coil asked in confusion.

"We are going to need alternate modes here so that we can remain close to Collin and the others," Shape-Change said, looking down at the smaller mech.

"Always thinking about disguises," Wildfire said with a slight shake of her helm. A slight smirk came over her face. "We are going to need them, though. We don't need to get the other humans in the area even more riled up than they already have been, considering Maria's actions." The femme sent a pointed look in the Reploid's direction.

Maria ignored the look Wildfire was giving her, a slight frown coming over her face. "...looks like we've only been gone for about half an hour. Mom and Dad shouldn't be worried yet, but it'd probably be a good idea to let them know where we are."

"I'll agree to that," Matthew said. Sparkseer carefully removed the human from his shoulder and lowered Matthew to the ground. "Mom and Dad can meet us out here then, and we can explain everything that happened out here."

"Sounds good to me," Liz commented. She looked over at Khrista. "Do you want to call your parents, too?"

Khrista paused to consider that for a moment, but then shook her head. "Nah. Mom and Dad only just got over the fact that I'm not exactly going to be 'normal' for the rest of my life. I don't know how they'd handle hearing that aliens actually exist and that I've had one in my head for who knows how long."

"Twelve years," Shape-Change corrected. "Joshua, where is the road that you mentioned?"

"Down that dirt road," Joshua replied, motioning to the tracks that were leading out of the clearing and between the trees.

"Thank you." The gray femme started towards the road.

"Where are you going?" Jolt asked.

"To get an alternative mode that fits in with Earth culture." Shape-Change paused and looked back at the others. "I am not about to go around in my natural alternate mode, because that is most certainly alien." With that, the femme continued down the dirt road and disappeared from sight around a bend in it.

"I think I will follow after her and chose an alternate mode myself," Sparkseer commented. He started after Shape-Change, using his golden spear almost like a staff.

"Why does he have that big thing, anyway?" Liz asked.

"It's because of his systems," First Aid explained. "Sparkseer can see and sense other Cybertronians' Sparks -- our 'souls,' as Morgen once said. However, he is constantly creating a backlash energy as a result of that, and has to have it siphoned off by a specific kind of metal. His spear is made of that metal, so Sparkseer keeps the weapon on him at all times."

"So, he's like a Cybertronian version of Lucario?" Khrista guessed.

"Pretty much," Matthew confirmed. He smirked and held up a hand, causing it to become covered in blue fire. "He's not the only one who can do what Lucario can do, though."

"Whoa!" Collin looked at his brother in surprise. "That's cool!"

"When did you pick that up?" Liz asked.

"When Maria and I were in that other world for a week and a half," Matthew explained. "The first time I used an Aura Sphere, I ended up hitting a Decepticon named Starscream in one of his wings. Left a pretty nasty dent, too."

"You hit _Starscream?_ " First Aid repeated in surprise.

"What does he look like?" Joshua asked, intrigued.

Maria frowned, trying to remember the one time that she had caught sight of the Seeker in person. Then she held out a hand and caused the air to shimmer before a mirage formed, creating the form of the Decepticon second-in-command. "This is him. He can transform into a jet, I think."

Collin cocked his head to one side, looking up at the hologram of the Seeker. Then he laughed. "He looks like a girl!"

"Seriously? Are those high heels?" Khrista gained an incredulous expression.

"He certainly looks...streamlined," Joshua commented carefully.

Maria snickered as the mirage faded. "Technically, Khrista, I think they're called stilettos."

"Okay, that just makes his image look worse." Khrista was smirking, despite what she had said. "And you guys had to face him?"

"We only ran into him a few times," Matthew responded. "He'd apparently become a loner for some reason, so he never showed up for the really important events. Like taking out Unicron. Or Brainiac, for that matter."

"Brainiac?" Liz looked at her brother, eyebrows raised. "That's the computer thing from Krypton, right? From the TV show?"

"And the comics," Maria confirmed. "He managed to sneak into Megatron's head and was planning on doing who-knows-what if we hadn't gotten in the way."

"You mean if _you_ hadn't gotten in the way," Wildfire corrected, looking at the little Reploid in amusement. "You're the one who completely melted his little device and messed with his programming, remember?"

Maria blushed out of embarrassment and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, well...."

There came the sound of shifting dirt, and two vehicles rolled into the clearing -- a blue semi, and a gray car with a red stripe and a yellow stripe running down the driver's side. The semi transformed into Sparkseer while the car's doors opened, letting out two figures -- a woman with frizzy black hair, and a man with amazement shining in his blue eyes.

"Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!" Maria waved from her perch on Wildfire's shoulder. "Shape-Change, thanks for picking them up!"

"I thought it might be wise to alert your parents of what had taken place," the gray car responded. The vehicle then started shifting, transforming into the familiar form of the femme. "They were quite surprised to see Sparkseer and I."

"You got that right," the man commented, looking around the clearing. He stopped short with a jolt when he saw First Aid. "What the -- we heard that you had been--"

"Rumors of my passing were...greatly exaggerated, I believe the saying is," First Aid said, sounding somewhat amused.

"Indeed," Sparkseer put in.

"Where have you all been hiding?" the woman with black hair asked, spinning slowly in place in order to see all six.

"Vector Prime warped time and space and trapped us in the minds of these kids," Jolt explained. "Wildfire with Maria, Seer with Matt, SC with Khrista, Aid with Liz, Coil with Collin, and me with Joshua. We only just found a way to get out."

"Coil?!"

"Hi, Katie! Hi, Morgen!" the aforementioned yellow mech gave a wave, causing the Carlsdale parents' jaws to drop.

Maria snickered. "Yup! Cool, right? And it gets even better, too -- Optimus Prime is probably on the planet somewhere, too!"

Katie and Morgen looked at their eldest daughter with expressions of surprise.

"Optimus is here?" Katie repeated. "How do you know?"

"That has something to do with the world we were on before," Wildfire responded. "Apparently, the Cybertronians there had company in the form of the Justice League."

"We ended up helping them get through Unicron's awakening and an attack from Brainiac," Matthew added. "At least, we helped them from the sidelines."

"Unicron?" Morgen frowned. "Isn't that the name of your deity of destruction?"

"Correct," Sparkseer said. "It seems that, after the battle between the Thirteen Primes and Unicron, something caused his form to become covered and forcibly transformed into the planet beneath our feet, with his Spark at its core. When a collection of 47 planets made an alignment between Cybertron and Earth, the magnetic pull caused him to awaken from his slumber. He would have destroyed the planet were it not for Megatron and Optimus Prime working together for a short amount of time."

"Megatron?" Katie's voice came out soft and cautious.

"Who's that?" Khrista asked. "Sounds like a bad guy."

"He is the leader of the Decepticons," Shape-Change explained. "The forces which oppose us Autobots."

"And Megatron looks _ugggly!"_ Maria declared. "Matt and I call him Buckethead for a reason!"

"You saw him?" Morgen whirled around to look up at his daughter's perch.

"Optimus had to... _invite_ him into their base for a while, before they went for Unicron's Spark," Sparkseer responded before Maria could open her mouth. "Thanks to the technology of the Ground Bridge, he was unable to get a specific fix as to where on Earth their base was. However, the humans were inside the base at the time."

"Megatron didn't make a move to hurt any of us, though," Matthew added. "I mean, he did make a temporary alliance with Optimus so that they could take down Unicron together."

"And things went right back to normal after Optimus had a bout of amnesia," Maria continued.

"Amnesia?" Katie looked surprised. "Can Cybertronians even have memory problems?"

"In some cases, yes," First Aid responded, nodding. "After a cataclysmic event on our planet -- a great disaster that wiped out a good number of Cybertronians -- it was discovered that an electric storm of sorts had corrupted some of the memories of the older Cybertronians. And, as time goes on for us, a good number of our memories have to be compressed to make room for more data. In the second case, if something happens that forces those compressed memories to surface, then we would recover them in the same sort of way an amnesiac human might recover their memories."

"Fascinating," Joshua murmured. "But how does that explain Optimus losing his memories?"

"It had something to do with him unleashing the Matrix of Leadership on Unicron's Spark," Wildfire said, eyeing Maria. "That's about as much as I can tell."

Maria nodded. "Yeah. Their version of Ratchet said that Optimus had reverted to his pre-Prime state of Orion Pax, meaning before he was ever considered a Prime in the first place."

"Which, in affect, meant that he considered Megatron an ally, didn't it?" Shape-Change guessed.

"Unfortunately," Sparkseer confirmed. "We managed to discover a way to restore his memories a few months later, but he was unfortunately unable to remember what exactly had occurred inside Megatron's base. Maria managed to find him during that time, however, and was helpful in filling the gaps that we needed."

Katie and Morgen became astounded upon hearing this.

"So, you snuck into Megatron's evil lair?" Khrista asked, raising her eyebrows in interest.

Maria grinned sheepishly and opened her mouth to answer, but she was suddenly cut off by a bright green beam of light shooting across the sky, creating an echoing boom as it shot towards the west. Everyone's heads shot up in order to see what was going on...while Maria gripped her own head and closed her eyes.

_ A tower of metal -- hordes of white and black figures flying towards what looked like an anthill--shooting down a helicopter--a giant ship appearing over a mound of rock and firing down a giant beam-- _

Maria let out a yell of shock as her eyes snapped open. "Guys, the Autobots here are in big trouble!"

** To be Continued.... **


End file.
